It’s been a busy month for the Green group, with some big wins in full council and committees.
Ben Parker successfully got the council to support the use of rent controls, which will increase pressure on the Scottish Parliament to support this measure in the current Housing Bill. Meanwhile Kayleigh O’Neill has been encouraging the new Transport Convenor to be greener, while Dan Heap has been exposing the public subsidy for millionaire pop concerts.
Susan and Chas (Green Group Co-Conveners)
Councillor highlights from the month
Asked to pick one highlight from the month, our councillors said:
Alys Mumford
Alys has been getting her teeth into her new role on the Integration Joint Board, including speaking at a conference hosted by the Edinburgh Trades Union Council’s Conference on social care cuts and encouraging officers of the IJB to engage with the Scottish Women’s Budget Group to improve equality impact assessments.
Ben Parker
Ben was very pleased to bring a motion to get the Council to endorse rent controls as part of the Housing bill which is currently working through Holyrood. This involved lots of negotiation with Labour and the SNP to get a winning position in the Council, and lots of work with Living Rent too.
Susan Rae
Susan was honoured to lead the EGGEC march from Princes Street to Leith Walk where she MC’d the rally on the 340th day of the war on Gaza.
Jule Bandel
As the new Equalities lead, Jule joined COSLA’s working group on Barriers to Elected Office and successfully passed a motion at Full Council to add accessibility information for Council-owned buildings to Euan’s Guide.
Kayleigh O’Neill
Kayleigh has been enjoying leading on Transport for Environment on the Green Group (and came second in the vote for the city’s new Committee Convenor…. There were only two candidates but still!)
Steve Burgess
Steve proposed 5 successful amendments at Education committee this month, pushing on scrutiny of budget cuts, improving school active travel, a Gaelic high school, energy use in schools and a pupil group on food waste.
Claire Miller
Claire attended a four-nations Women’s Budget Group conference (this year’s theme was focused on the care economy) and made contacts with experts across the UK
Alex Staniforth
As finance spokesperson, Alex put forward amendments which successfully ensured future budget engagements would reach neglected demographic groups and that the city will immediately reconsider the Forth ‘Green’ Freeport should funding for tax relief not come from the Scottish Government.
Chas Booth
The ‘Climate Ready Edinburgh’ plan, which sets out how the council will adapt to climate change, was agreed last month and thanks to a Green amendment each subject committee is now examining how this plan can be incorporated into their work.
Dan Heap
At the end of August, Dan’s Written Question uncovered around £40,000 of Council subsidy being provided to the Taylor Swift Concert. He is now working on a proposal for a full cost recovery from such events, and the Administration stated support for this at Full Council in September.
Updates and upcoming
Committee updates and other things to look out for in the coming month:
Housing, Homelessness and Fair work
The next Housing committee on 1st October includes some brutal and sobering reports on homelessness and support for refugees / asylum seekers. There are also a number of reports coming back to us about “mixed tenure” repairs which have been problematic in parts of the city and which we have been working on with Living Rent and other campaigners.
Transport & Environment (TEC)
In committee Kayleigh will be focusing on scrutiny around communal waste management, parking controls, parking on tram lines and road safety. As a new motion she will be proposing work on Holyrood Park Road which ties in with our MSP and SEEG’s campaign.
Planning
The November meeting is where the updated ‘Edinburgh Design Guidance’ will be discussed; these are the documents which govern how developers should approach things like cycle parking provision, biodiversity, and student accommodation,
Health & Social Care
Proposals for budget cuts are starting to come through, with some really alarming prospects for cuts in preventative healthcare and care home beds.